ABSTRACT
Perdido Bay (Figure 2.2a) in the northeastern Gulf is somewhat unique in that it is a relatively small system with only one primary source of pollution in the upper bay, a pulp mill. Pulp mill effluents tend to have relatively high concentrations of nutrients. Although there is some agricultural runoff into the Perdido River, such activity is concentrated principally to the west and south of the upper bay. Most of the land in the upper Perdido drainage basin is lightly populated. The highest agricultural and urban runoff is thus located in the lower bay. This combination of factors established upper Perdido Bay as an excellent place to carry out research concerning nutrient loading and eutrophication since the upper bay is small and relatively free of pollutants other than a single point source of nutrients (Livingston, 1998). Accordingly, there was an emphasis on the determination of the effects of nutrient loading and seasonal/interannual responses of water and sediment quality and associated biological interactions with a series of mill-related changes in nutrient loading over an 11-year period of study. Field descriptive data were used in conjunction with field and laboratory experiments and modeling efforts to determine the response of the Perdido system to this single source of anthropogenous nutrient loading.
